The aggressive, metal-on-metal WARMACHINE game is set in the Iron Kingdoms, an environment that combines the richness of traditional fantasy with the excitement of steam power and gunpowder. Across the realm, ancient rivalries among nations are exploding into all-out conflict, setting the stage for WARMACHINE and other Iron Kingdom products.
In this 30 mm tabletop miniatures battle game, each player controls an elite soldier-sorcerer who leads an army into battle to fight for king, country, or simply coin. These warcasters are formidable and experienced combatants, and the warjacks they control represent the pinnacle of military might in the Iron Kingdoms.
WARMACHINE puts players directly onto the battlefield as warcasters and their armies clash. A game is fought with the thundering cannons, ripping iron claws, and crushing hammer blows of the giant steam-powered warjacks as well as the devastating spells wrought by the warcasters themselves and the lethal weapons of their warriors. When the dust settles, one side is victorious—and the other is nothing but smoking scrap metal!
Privateer Press have done a great introductory video to Warmachine, after which I’ve also included a Battle Report from Ash at Guerilla Miniatures because I find these very enjoyable to watch.
Warmachine – Gameplay Tutorial
Battle Report
Rules & Miniatures
All the rules and miniatures can be purchased from Privateer Press, though I’m sure some FLGS will offer discounts on these prices.
They have two starter armies from the six factions available. Both of these are reasonably priced at $39.99.
Fantasy Battles: The 9th Age is an independent table top miniature wargame set in a fantasy world, in which players take control of armies and set them upon one another in conflicts ranging from minor skirmishes to mighty battles with hundreds of models.
The game and all of its rules are completely free to download and use, and consist of a main rulebook and over fifteen army documents, ranging from stoic men and noble elves to the feral orcs and dread worshipers of the dark gods. You can easily assemble your own army using appropriate 28mm miniatures from any manufacturer.
Fantasy Battles: The 9th Age has been created by a group of experienced wargamers, a large supportive staff and continuous input from the wargaming community. We aim to provide a competitive, balanced and fun game, with updates and new rules to be released regularly.
Dark Wizard Gaming has a number of excellent YouTube videos explaining how to play 9th Age these are only up to the Charge phase, after this I’ve included a Battle Report from Guerilla Miniatures showing how it plays.
Episode 1 – Intro
Episode 2 – Models, Units and Line of Sight
Episode 3 – Characteristics
Episode 4 – Building an Army
Episode 5 – Setting up a Game
Episode 6 – Charge Phase
Battle Report
Rules
The 9th Age has a fantastic website where you can download the core rules and read through the various factions.
Miniatures
As for miniatures you can use all your old Warhammer Fantasy battle miniatures and any other Fantasy miniature range as long as they fit within the description of the available armies.
As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.
Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders
Here are the results from last weeks polls.
Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:
SHOOTING A TARGET When any unit wishes to shoot, they do so by rolling a number of D6 equal to their FIREPOWER capability. For example, a standard conscript infantry battalion will have a FIREPOWER 1rating, showing that the unit rolls one D6 when rolling to shoot at a unit.
HITTING A unit will need a certain number on their FIREPOWER dice in order to successfully shoot an enemy unit. All units start with a BASE SHOOTING SKILL (BSS)of 4+, this can be adjusted through the Faction creation process and each units RANGED ABILITY will be required on their FACTION SHEET.
Therefore, if a unit is targeting an enemy unit in the open that unit will need to equal or beat it’s RANGED ABILITY on its FIREPOWER dice to record a hit against that unit. However, before you roll the FIREPOWERdice you will need to check against the WEAPON RANGE of the weapon you’re using and apply any effects as below.
WEAPON RANGE Each weapon will have a range profile showing its EFFECTIVE RANGE and its MAXIMUM RANGE. When a unit is shooting, if the range to the target sits within the MAXIMUM RANGE profile, then that unit will need to deduct 1 from its dice roll when rolling its FIREPOWER dice. Firing a weapon inside it’s EFFECTIVE RANGE has no impact on the dice roll.
ARMOUR SAVES Once a unit has had hits allocated against it, if that unit possesses then it is allowed to make an ARMOUR SAVE roll for each successful hit against the unit. Use theFACTION SHEET to find the units ARMOUR SAVE. Cover also can have an affect on the save needed.
COVER Depending on the type of cover a unit is in will have an effect on that unit’s ARMOUR SAVE. Cover comes in three categories, SOFT COVER and HARD COVER. SOFT COVER includes terrain like swamps, fields and woods, this type of terrain allows the player to add +1 to their ARMOUR SAVE roll. HARD COVER includes terrain like built up areas or fortifications and add +2 to a unit’s ARMOUR SAVE.
MORALE DAMAGE All units begin the game with a **** MORALE STATUS. As unsaved hits are suffered by the unit this degrades, as it degrades the unit becomes harder to order and can eventually flee the battlefield.
THIS WEEKS POLLS
This does raise some additional questions in regards to Morale however:
With option two I can see each ship having a number of “systems” which can be damaged, i.e. the weapon system may take three hits before becoming completely disabled but each hit could mean -1 to hit with their FIREPOWER dice. Once a system has been completely destroyed hits have to be allocated elsewhere.
–Peter
Name Suggestions?
Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.
Marvel: Crisis Protocol is a tabletop hobby miniatures game set in the Marvel Universe. Players assemble, paint, and collect an ever expanding line of highly detailed plastic miniatures representing iconic Marvel characters. Players choose characters from their collections to form their own Marvel inspired dream team and then pit their chosen forces against each other on an interactive tabletop where the very terrain itself can be thrown, crashed into, and destroyed during the super powered showdown.
Gamers Guild has a number of YouTube channel videos explaining how to play Marvel Crisis Protocol.
Part 1 – Key Concepts and Mechanics
Part 2 – Setting up the Game
Part 3 – Phases of the Game
Part 4 – Movement and Throws
Part 5 – Line of Sight and Cover
Miniatures
There are a number of websites that you can buy the miniatures and rules for this from. Our friends at SCN Hobby World being one and Asmodee being another. The core set can be a good place to start, but it will set you back around around $100.
Conquest is a tabletop gaming world produced by Para Bellum Wargames. Our flagship, “Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings” is a Mass Battle game and under its umbrella you will find our entire range of miniatures. Its sister system, “Conquest: First Blood”, is a skirmish game, played with the same minis and offering fast-paced combats. Both systems come with easy to learn rulesets, which also afford veteran players multiple levels of strategy to master. With both rulebooks available online for free and a “Living World” platform which allows the community to influence the lore, the world of Conquest invites you to an immersive gaming experience!
Para-Bellum on their YouTube channel has a video explaining how to play Conquest.
Miniatures
Para-Bellum has their own store for selling all the miniatures and rules you need to play. Army sets are available from €150.00. in my opinion the miniatures for this game are stunning.
The below list are the tournaments that have been used to populate this data.
Quest of Champions – Heat 1 Columbus Brewhammer Ragnarok Hobbies Mindgames and Magic February AoS Tournament South Bend Age of Sigmar: February Tournament Da Great South Waagh Gods of War 2 Sunday Slaughter 7 Torna! (A Udine) AoS Bloodshed in the Shires Battle of Copenhagen Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition Tourney 2/12/2022 @Level Up Games Schlact Um Wiener Neustadt 3 Apotheosis – 22 Emerald City Open The Lone Star GT Giga King of the Hill Pt 1 Beginner Friendly Learner Tournament War Under the Mountain 11 Grot Gang RTT 3: Reloaded Atomic Age of Sigmar Lone Star GT Practice Tiny Fanatic I TTB Aos Open 2022 Leodis Legion AOS 19th February Age of Sigmar Hispania 2022 Loremaster #2 Cherokee Open – age of Sigmar GT Age of Sigmar Tournament Hosted by Oscar Lars & Warp Charged Gaming Slambo Age of Sigmar PCG Hosts Lightly Salted’s 1st Age of Sigmar RTT Old Town Throw Down AOS Milano – February Warm Up Brewdog AOS GT GT Pomeranian Little Alpacup III Mawtribes Massacre: Resurgence
Most Selected Grand Alliance
This month I’ve included a split as calculated by the number of battletomes for each Grand Alliance, the column on the far right shows each Grand Alliances variance to this ideal share. Order maintains its 40%+ share of all armies at tournaments. While Death still props up the rest with 13.3% in Feb falling from 15.4% in January.
Grand Alliance Win Rates
Order remain the top faction with a win rate of 50.7% but this has dropped from 53.3% last month. While last months second placed Grand Alliance, Destruction has fallen to last place with a win rate of 46.3%. Chaos climbed from last place in January to 2nd place in February, increasing their win rate to 48.5% from 42.9%.
Most Selected Battletome
Stormcast Eternals are still the most selected faction with 14.7% choosing to play the faction. Fyreslayers claim the wooden spoon with 1.1% allowing the Hedonites of Slaanesh to move up a position and increase their share from 0.6% to 1.3% or armies played.
Battletome Win Rates
Many articles I’ve read and players I’ve spoken too have said that for balance to be in the game each Battletome needs to have a win rate of between 45-55%. This of course is a pipe dream and an extremely difficult task to achieve, that being said this does show which Battletomes possibly need to be reviewed by GW in the future. More so if a Battletome is consistently underperforming such as Skaven or Gloomspite Gitz
Top 20 Most Selected Sub-Faction
It’ll probably come as no surprise that the Hammers of Sigmar still lead the table in the most played sub-faction.
Win rates for Sub-Factions with 50+ Games
Legion of the First Prince leads the way here with a disgustingly good 61.1% over Jan and Feb. While Skaventide prop up the rest with 34%.
5-0’s & 4-1’s
Below is a list of the number of times a faction/subfaction combo has achieved a 4-0-1 or better at a 5 game tournament
The AOS Milano – February Warm Up was a one day three game event that took place in Milan, Italy on 26th Feb. It saw 48 players fight it out to be crowned champion.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
Win Rate
The Top Three Lists
Bonalda Filippo – Stormcast Eternals
Bonalda won all three games beating Kharadron Overlords in Round 1, Daughters of Khaine/Khailebron in Round 2 and Ogor Mawtribes/Thunderbellies in Round 3.
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumphs: Inspired
Units 4x Stormdrake Guard (680)* – Reinforced x 1 6x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (480)* – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Battle Regiment
Total: 1995 / 2000
Luca Onorati – Legion of the First Prince
Luca also managed three wins. He beat Bonesplitterz/Icebone in Round 1, Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 2 and Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 3.
Allegiance: Legion of the First Prince – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders Be’Lakor the Dark Master (360) – Spell: The Master’s Command Great Unclean One (495)* – General – Command Trait: Ruinous Aura – Artefact: Fourfold Blade – Spell: Flaming Weapon Kairos Fateweaver (435) – Spell: The Master’s Command
Battleline 10x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250)* 10x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (250) 5x Flesh Hounds (105)*
Roberto also won all of his games, beating Kharadron Overlords/Barak Thryng in Round 1, Stormcast Eternals/Hallowed Knights in Round 2 and Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 3.
– Army Faction: Stormcast Eternals – Subfaction: Hammers of Sigmar – Grand Strategy: Beast Master – Triumph: Inspired
Federico also won all his games with a Nighthaunt faction that rarely finishes in the top half of tournament tables, he eventually finished the event in 6th. He won against Legion of the First Prince in Round 1, Legion of the First Prince in Round 2 and Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 3.
– Army Faction: Nighthaunt – Subfaction: Emerald Host – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS ———-
Guardian of Souls (135)* – Artefact: Lightshard of the Harvest Moon – Spell: Soul Cage Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed (120)* – Artefact: The Traitor Knight’s Bade Guardian of Souls (135)* – Artefact: Pendant of the Fell Wind – Spell: Soul Cage Lady Olynder (215)** – General – Spell: Shademist Krulghast Cruciator (120)** Krulghast Cruciator (120)**
I’ve never actually owned an airbrush despite wanting one for many years. With the birth of my first child in 2019 I decided to postpone this purchase further as I was concerned that an airbrush would wake any children in the house when I used it (myself being a late night painter).
Recently however I had seen the YouTube advert for the neat and handy airbrush. The main draw was the fact that this was a cordless airbrush and no louder than an electric razor.
Delivery
I ordered the product on 21st February via their website, when ordering you’re given three locations for the airbrush to be despatched from. These are the UK, USA and Australia. I was given updates throughout the week on the progress of my order until it arrived on my doorstep on 23rd February. 3 working days! Impressive!
The box
Note I purchased the pack with the additional battery.
The airbrush came very well wrapped inside a bubble wrap envelope, the airbrush itself sits in a foam tray as shown above, very little opportunity for this to be damaged on route.
Batteries
Being an eager beaver I charged up the batteries immediately with the USB connector supplied. There is no plug with this, so you will need to plug the USB either into a computer or a phone charger plug with a USB port. The batteries were charged within 40 minutes each and they both provide 30 minutes of non-stop use.
Note that you can also use this while connected to the power supply if you wish through a power inlet on the compressor shown below. So if you do run out of battery you can still continue using the airbrush.
Noise
So how was the noise? Was it really as quiet as an electric razor? Actually, it was quieter! I recorded this on my phone (phone is approx 15cm from the airbrush).
But the true test of this, was my infant son of 5 months was sleeping in his cot in the next room and he didn’t even stir! Exactly what I need so far!
First Use
Here I had a problem. I had connected the charged battery, screwed the cup in and filled the cup with a little diluted Abaddon Black. I went to use the airbrush and only air was ejected from the nozzle. After playing around for sometime and becoming increasingly frustrated I emailed neat and tidy using their contact us page.
Bear in mind that I emailed them at 23:30 GMT, with this in mind I had a response within half an hour from a nice chap called John. John asked me how I had used it so far and if I could provide a video for them to view. After saying that I had cleaned the brush and tried it with water alone I was provided with a link to a quick fix.
Yup, that did the job!
I used citadel paints on my first go and immediately found that these needed diluting for them to work, but once they had a little water added to them the airbrush worked a treat.
There is very little in the way of over spray from what I can tell and the airbrush is extremely easy to control.
Conclusion
It’s obviously not a high end airbrush but it’s a perfect tool for undercoating your miniatures indoors as well as giving you an easier way to paint OSL if you wish.
Plus with the support I received I can’t recommend this brush enough!
The February Old Town Throw Down was a five game event over two days that took place in USA on 26th and 27th Feb. It saw 45 players fight it out to be claimed champion.
Most Selected Faction/Subfaction
Win Rate
The Top Three Lists
These were the top three lists from The February Old Town Throw Down.
Alexander Gonzalez – Soulblight Gravelords
Alexander won all five games beating Maggotkin of Nurgle/Blessed Sons in Round 1, Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in Round 2, Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in Round 3, Blades of Khorne/Reapers of Vengeance in Round 4 and Seraphon/Fangs of Sotek in the last round.
Leaders Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435) – General – Deathlance – Command Trait: Pack Alpha – Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact) – Mount Trait: Foetid Miasma – Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon Radukar the Beast (315)** Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night (380) – Lore of the Deathmages: Fading Vigour
Battleline 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (85)** 10 x Dire Wolves (135)**
Units 20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1 20 x Grave Guard (280)* – Great Wight Blades – Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions *Hunters of the Heartlands **Battle Regiment
Declan – Alexander went 4-1 at Emerald City with the same list… and he’s gone one better here. It shows the benefit of playing multiple games of Age of Sigmar especially if you get two tournaments in two weekends. Not essential by any means, but I know I’ve improved playing in multiple tournaments!
But it’s been less than a week, I’ve not really learnt anything new here… so a repeat of the Emerald City comments!:
40 Grave Guard! Wow! I’ve fought 20 of them before and they can kill a Mega Gargant over a couple of rounds of combat. Backed up by Mannfred and a Zombie Dragon, this army can get where it needs to get to.
The really secret tech (may not be secret) is Mannfred’s command ability:
From: Wahapedia
Considering most armies pay 1 command point for a one phase +1 to hit this is amazing value for a command ability. Sure it’s a relatively small range but with the smaller boards and Mannfred’s ability to run away from combat this is almost impossible to stop. Then it’s Grave Guard for the win!
Christopher Hernandez – Seraphon
Christopher managed an impressive four wins and one draw over the weekend. He beat Soulblight Gravelords/Kastelai Dynasty in Round 1, drew against Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 2, Big Waaagh! in Round 3, Cities of Sigmar/Tempest’s Eye in Round 4and Cities of Sigmar/Living City in Round 5.
Declan – Ah Seraphon… how I’ve missed you. Although I’ve not had a lot of chance to do so. This is Seraphon… again … and they are as good as ever. As I’ve said before they have a great toolkit and you can almost pick what you like… except maybe Saurus foot and Carnosaurs.
The Battle Regiment is taken by Christopher, to reduce the drops – a very popular choice – and he’s taken Kroak. He’s a monster of a Wizard and can throw out loads of damage, much of it board wide or essentially board wide. Also, good luck killing him as he heals all his wounds each phase (sort of)!
Wahapedia
So you can kill him with only 2 wounds… but good luck trying! I’ve fought Kroak 3 times and not come close to killing him in any of the games. Bring guns… loads of guns!
Kroak is backed up by some great monsters including the ubiquitous Bastiladon. – what a great list!
Aaron Newbom – Big Waaagh!
Aaron won four of his five games, losing only in Round 3 against 2nd placed Christopher and his Seraphon/Thunder Lizard list. Along the way he beat the Daughters of Khaine/Hagg Nar in Round 1, Slaves to Darkness/Hosts of the Everchosen in Round 2, Slaves to Darkness/Despoilers in Round 4 and Maggotkin of Nurgle/Befouling Host in Round 5.
– Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Big Waaagh! – Grand Strategy: Dominating Presence – Triumph: Indomitable
LEADERS ———-
Orruk Megaboss (140)* – Artefacts of Power: Destroyer Orruk Warchanter (115)* Orruk Warchanter (115)* Wurrgog Prophet (150)** – Artefacts of Power: Glowin’ Tattooz – Spells: Ghost-mist Orruk Megaboss (140)** – Artefacts of Power: Arcane Tome Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (90)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Spells: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
BATTLELINE ———-
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)* 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)** 15 x Orruk Brutes (480)*** -Reinforced: Twice 15 x Orruk Ardboys (255)*** – Reinforced: Twice 5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
ARTILLERY ———-
1 x Beast-skewer Killbow (130) 1 x Beast-skewer Killbow (130)
CORE BATTALIONS – *Warlord – **Warlord – ***Hunters of the Heartlands
TOTAL POINTS: 2000/2000
Declan – Ah… Big Waagh! It has had a mini-revival recently and I’ve been having fun leading this charge in the UK. Aaron only lost to Christopher’s Seraphon and has gone a very different route than my ‘almost Ironjawz’ approach.
The Wurrgog is great with his stare (beware of ending a turn within 12″ of him), and I love the double Megabosses on Foot which I’ve tried before in Ironjawz. When Big Waagh is up and running they are 2+/2+ which is difficult to better. The Hand of Gork allows Aaron to threaten teleport into any area of the board which keeps opponents honest and means they have to defend their territory.
Meanwhile the Killbows provide reach to go and get the enemy – although if you play with this be aware that the Big Waagh hit and wound bonuses don’t apply. A great army and a superb result.
Wildcard – Gregory Brewer – Kruleboyz
Gregory also won 4 games with a Kruleboyz faction that rarely finishes with more than 3 wins at tournaments, he eventually finished the event in 6th. He lost his third game against Lumineth Realm-Lords/Helon list. He won against Lumineth Realm-Lords/Ymetrica in Round 1, Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in Round 2, Soulblight Gravelords/Vyrkos Dynasty in Round 4 and Kruleboyz/Big Yellers in the last round.
– Army Faction: Orruk Warclans – Army Type: Kruleboyz – Subfaction: Big Yellers – Grand Strategy: Hold the Line – Triumph: Bloodthirsty
LEADERS ———-
Kragnos (720) Gobsprakk (280)* – Spells: Nasty Hex Swampcalla Shaman and Pot-grot (105)* – Artefacts of Power: Mork’s Eye Pebble – Spells: Nasty Hex Killaboss with Stab-Grot (110)* – General – Command Traits: Supa Sneaky – Boss‑hacka and Skareshield
BATTLELINE ———-
9 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (360)* – Reinforced: Twice 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)* 3 x Man-skewer Boltboyz (120)*
OTHER ———-
20 x Hobgrot Slittaz (160)* – Reinforced: Once
CORE BATTALIONS – *Battle Regiment TOTAL POINTS: 1975/2000
Declan – When Kruleboyz were first released, people immediately looked towards the Big Yellers and this is no expection. The Man Skewer Boltboyz remain a solid option, although maybe not up the shooting standards of other battletomes. They have the reach to do damage at range, and means that once Kragnos is in amongst your opponent’s troops causing damage left and right.
It’s great to see Kragnos starting to appear in 4-1 lists since his warscroll re-write in December. It certainly seems to be an improvement, and he’s scary to face as I found out at Chumpionship last weekend.
